Requiem Mass for Sen. Kennedy to be held at Mission Church

Boston, Mass., Aug 27, 2009 / 12:52 pm (CNA).- Sen. Edward Kennedy’s funeral Mass will be celebrated on Saturday at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston. The senator, who died on Tuesday after a battle with brain cancer, had sought solace at the church during his illness and the illnesses of other family members.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help, commonly known as Mission Church, was founded by the Redemptorists in 1871 and is under the care of the Baltimore Province of the Redemptorist order. Like all Redemptorist churches, a copy of the ancient icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help hangs in Mission Church.

“People come here because they don’t feel alone,” Redemptorist Father Philip Dabney, associate pastor of Mission Church, remarked. “There’s a certain presence here; some people call it the umbrella of comfort.”

Fr. Patrick Woods, provincial of the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province, said that Sen. Kennedy had prayed at the Basilica for other family members in their illnesses and for himself.

“Redemptorist Fathers Raymond Collins, pastor of Mission Church, and Philip Dabney, approved the request to hold the funeral Mass at Mission and to offer pastoral support and comfort to the Kennedy family at this time in their lives. I am most grateful for the pastoral sensitivity of our confreres at Mission,” Fr. Woods said.

“May the Lord grant Sen. Kennedy eternal rest and peace, and may the Lord bring his gentle healing to all who mourn his passing,” he prayed.